New toys for Piya

Assalammualaikum....

Yesterday was a public holiday for Malaysia in conjunction with Maulidur Rasul; the birth of our beloved prophet Nabi Muhammad SAW (pbuh). 12 Rabi'ulawwal. It was so wonderful to see most of the social networks that I'm apart of were flooded with selawat on Nabi Muhammad SAW (pbuh). One of my favorites was shared by my ex-schoolmate Syed Zain or more commonly known as Zainhd via Instagram

Isn't it beautiful? It truly is. Gives you that serene & tranquility thought of knowing our great leader once lived with such impeccable etiquette, leadership and others that rhymes with it. He is truly an example for others to follow suit in our pursuit of certain aspiration that we are indeed lacking. Subhanallah.. If only Malaysia's leaders today would embrace this and make an exemplar out of it. Uuuurrgh..

Uncle Din had a meeting on Monday at Labuan and it was a day trip. He departed from home as early as 5.30am and reached home at 11.30pm. Knowing that he was extremely exhausted, we didn't make any plans yesterday. Just a detour to Aeon Bukit Raja running errands for my mom. One of the many things that I like about Aeon Bukit Raja is the kids corner in level 1. You will find a splendid range of toys for toddlers and believe me Piya was looked obfuscate on which toy to pick. After spending hours browsing through the options, we finally settled with these:-

1. A jigsaw puzzle

  

This was her 1st time playing with such conundrum and she was very immersed in analyzing and figuring the shapes out. A true brain-teaser! It was hilarious watching Piya baffled with the shapes.  Ayah was patiently playing with her until he got annoyed by the cameraman (which was me) who keep asking them to pose and smile. Oooops.. Just wanna commemorate the moments laa sayang. Even though Aeon Bukit Raja has good selection of dining restaurants, we were actually quite resolved with their food court because by far, this is the only food court that caters well for kids. So we settled there playing jigsaw puzzle with Piya and had our frugal brunch. Well, you gotta be frugal these days unless you wanna stuff your tummy with kangkung. (-___-)

 

2. A portable magnetic white board

I've been eyeing this for awhile and the only toy akin to this was a stand board with dual purpose; be it a white board with markers or a blackboard with chalk. I don't fancy blackboards as I had enough of them throughout my 11 year of schooling. So no blackboard and chalk for us please. Expanding on that, the colorful ABCs was very appealing and helps to draw Piya's attention. She blithely played with them.... for awhile.... and then she began to dream that the alphabets were airplanes. *sigh

 The day was still young and the weather was not encouraging to make laundries. I became so bored as Piya has dozed off while watching ABCs; her current obsession. And boredom leads to cooking or baking or any paths leading to calorie land. Oh my. So I did this; a simple recipe I found that bakes a mug cake in 1 minute. I was so glad getting the approval from my Masterchef (baba) who is truly a pastry chef. 

 I thought that eating the sinful lazy chocolate cake could be balanced with a cuppa green tea. You know, to keep the calorie at bay. (-__-)" Here's what I did

1 tbsp sugar & cocoa
1.5 tbsp vegie oil
2 tbsp flour & milk
A dash of vanilla essence

 Sprinkle chocolate chips (I used M&M instead)

Mix ALL the ingredients and bake at HIGH for 1 minute. Easy peasy right?

Aaaand that's how I spend time with my family. I tried my best to clear my schedule of any photo shoots during weekdays to have quality time with my loved ones. Multitasking mama! 

Thank you for reading yea. 

Eve of Eidul Adha

Salam and hye,

All alone in the office. Yerp, in the office on the eve of Eidul Adha.. Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha to all Muslims! There is only the 4 of us working and frankly I do not know where they're all off to. Hence, the space is all mine... MINEEEEEE... I don't mind being alone in the office though. I appreciate the serene and tranquility atmosphere unlike my usual days where my neighbor has this horrible habit of plugging his ears with music loudly and would became so immersed that he didn't even notice (I think he does) that he's sharing the lyrics with the entire room. Uurrrgh... 

So today, the office is totally nice and quiet. Totally a peace of mind. Oh, in case you are wondering, as I am IN office today, that kinda explains the fact that I'm not returning Kelantan for Eid Adha this year. Yeeeerp, mostly due to leave discrepancy between Uncle Din and I. Initially, he decided not to balik kampung as his new work acquires a lot of his time and energy. Then suddenly he submitted a 24 hours notice and is enjoying his time at home before he resumes to a another new place after Eid. Now, the notion to balik kampung does deemed nice right as he is on a looooong leave but I on the other hand had gave up my leave due to our the initial plan. So yeaaah, here I am in the office while Uncle Din is at home sulking for not balik kampung. Ain't my fault....    

Eid Adha 2011

 I haven't made plans yet for this impromptu turn of events. Usually it is by default that we would balik kampung Kelantan for Eidul Adha but this year? I don't know how to make Uncle Din feels better. The celebration back at his place is amazing whilst here is very mild & mediocre; or leaning more towards nothing. Sigh! Maybe we'll head to Mid Valley for a walk and that would also mean another makan-makan for me...! Oh my.... Speaking of makan-makan, we have been dining outside almost every night this week. Things look rather convenient as my work place is adjacent to Subang & Sunway so stopping by after fetching me from work is a good critical path. 

Wendy's @ Sunway Piramid

Pizza Hut @ Subang Parade

Oh my calories.......... Can't wait to hit the gym when he resumes to a new work place. Until then, we'll just wait and see what tomorrow might bring. And oh! On a final note, happy fasting to those who are fasting today. It is called Puasa Arafah. It is carry out on the 9th of Zulhijjah and is encourage on those who are not performing Hajj. I might ask Uncle Din to have sushi for dinner as this fasting is making me craving for food.

My sahur; Garlic butter prawn, baked salmon + mustard, pasta salad

Hope you guys will have a good raya this year. Until then,

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha from me

Frozen Lasagne - Thalia

My new guilty food at my very own convenience.. Frozen.. Cheap RM9.49.. 8 minutes to heat..

RM9.49 @ Giant Hypermarket

Peel the plastic cover a bit

Place it nicely in a bowl

Heat using microwave for 8 minutes

Peel the entire cover

TADAAAAAA!

 Most importantly it is super delicious... Boleh laaa kan.. Especially bila malas masak..

Ornate Sandwiches

Subsequent to my previous post, i am scouting for ideas in making ornate sandwiches for Piya. I'm encouraging her to eat wholemeal bread with plenty of salad for snacking. So far she does not detest the idea but we must be one step ahead.

Here's a few ideas i found from Mr Google.

Jangan rajin carik jer, kena rajin buat gak.

Veer passion to baking

Last year in December 2011, one of the babies at the babysitter just reached 1 year old. Her mother offered to hold a birthday party while the babysitter offered to be host. Since that day, I have been dreaming with wandering thoughts on celebrating Piya’s 1^st bday this coming May 2012. I have another 4 months to go.

I’ve been collecting ideas on decoration, theme and most importantly; the savories. Hopefully I can bake for her and pleased baba as well. I think baba has this slight disappointment that I don’t follow his passion for cooking / baking. So it is time to change. You can’t change the wind but you can change the sail right?

I’ve made a list since last year but procrastinate on commencing the execution………. *sigh*

You must have Chocoloate Brownies in your list



Apam Polkadot yg menarik *pics credit to the internet yea*

Chocolate Truffles; i like the part of rolling the chocolate ganache

 

Mini Chocolate cakes




Colourful Macaroons

 

Baba's Peach Gateau; must learn to make this



Baba's 62nd Birthday 2012

Baba was born in 1950 on 1^st January. Every New Year, my mother and I would stay at home and accompanied him while my brothers would hang-out to join the crowd. Hence more often than not, we would cook something and talk almost about everything during the night. Well, actually I do want to hang-out with my friends too and watch the beautiful fireworks but being the only girl in the family forbids me to have that privilege. My parents prefer me staying in and watch television with them.

Like all the years that have passed us by, we open our chapter in 2012 by commemorate Baba’s 62^nd birthday at home. As you may notice, Baba loves entertaining guests with his savories and signature desserts. Zeffi and Abg Pian came over to join the celebration. The adults would talk about life, education, children, and foods or even listen to Baba’s story telling. Meanwhile the children were just children. Totally avid and fickle playing among themselves.

Everything was homemade cooking. We had roasted turkey, cauliflower + white sauce, garlic butter broccoli & glaze 'kumara' (sweet potato). The desserts were French cream caramel, peach ghetto, thriffle & chocolate birthday cake bought by Zeffi.

We had a lovely time and most importantly Baba was happy having his children + grandchildren around.

Happy Birthday my dear sweet Baba.

Nona Pancakes

I have always been interested to make pancakes ever since I ate Mc’D morning breakfast pancake.

But when I browsed in Youtube, the method appears to be quite meticulous which kind of makes me feel centrifugal. However, Uncle Din and I stumble upon an instant pancake powder at Giant Sec. 13 Shah Alam while buying the groceries. And ever since we bought that, he has been pestering me to cook it for him which I eventually did anyway.

So here is how to make pancakes using instant powder from Nona

INGREDIENTS

1 box – Nona instant powder

2 – Table spoon of olive oil / cooking oil

1 jug of warm water (add accordingly, no need to use all)

Pandan leaves

Butter

Cinnamon powder

METHODS

1. Mix Nona instant powder and olive oil in a mixing bowl.
2. Pour in warm water by staggered as you do not want to spoil the texture. I used warm water as the texture would be more liquidize. Stop adding water once the mixture can hold a string.
3. Add in some cinnamon for flavoring and nice scent.
4. Heat the non-stick pan / frying pan with a little butter.
5. Pour the liquid mixture according to your please but not too much
6. Wait for easily 20 seconds and you will notice bubbles to appear. Then it ready to flip.
7. Use the pandan leaves to rub oil all over the pan. This is to avoid the pancake from burn.

Voila! Pancakes are served. I was able to get 15 pancakes but mine were thicks. Bon appétite!